John McCusker/The Times-Picayune archive'He really would have worked hard,' said Robert Lambert, Causeway general manager.

Larry Abbott, 65, a lawyer who lives near Covington, cited a "potential conflict of interest" stemming from a feud with an unidentified man who once served on a private school board with him.

The man's vendetta might have included showing up at Causeway meetings and airing his grievances against Abbott, said Greg Buisson, a spokesman for the Causeway Commission.

"Larry made a decision, not wanting this thing to carry out over a long period of time" and causing "a distraction to the commission, " Buisson said.

Abbott said in an e-mail that he was in a meeting and did not have time for an interview.

"It appears that God did not intend for me to be on the Causeway Commission, " he wrote.

The governor's press secretary, Kyle Plotkin, said: "We accepted his resignation, and we are working quickly to find a replacement."

Abbott was serving as the five-member commission's swing member, a one-year appointment that alternates between a St. Tammany Parish resident and one from Jefferson Parish. He had yet to attend his first commission meeting.

Abbott said in a resignation letter to James Quinn, the governor's director of boards and commissions, that he had met with Causeway General Manager Robert Lambert for 4 1/2 hours and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents to prepare for the new position.

"With all that I learned from him and the documentation, I was very excited about becoming an active member, " Abbott wrote in the letter.

Abbott's assessment that his nemesis would have haunted him publicly was probably correct, Lambert said.

"Yes, I did spend a lot of time with him. He seemed really pumped up, " Lambert said. "He really would have worked hard."

State Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, said he was unaware of any problems when he submitted a letter to Jindal in support of Abbott's candidacy.

Donahue had nominated two other local residents, Evans Spiceland and Otto Mehrgut, but Abbott's name surfaced as the finalist, which prompted Donahue to write the letter vouching for him.

"He seems to be a good fellow, and he's known locally as a lawyer, " Donahue said.

Abbott is the managing director of the law firm Abbott Simses, where he specializes in trial litigation. A native of Miami, he graduated from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and the Tulane University School of Law.

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Cindy Chang can be reached at cchang@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4816.